Confusion at Bismarck

STATES & CITIES

Once cold dawn last week, explosive flames spurted from the top floor of North Dakota's four-story brick Capitol at Bismarck. So quickly did they devour tindery old boards and plaster and dry bales of official papers, that by noon all that was left of the 46-year-old building was smoking rubble. When the State was still part of Dakkota Territory, frontiersmen traveled long western miles to stare in pride and wonder at the structure's once famed "gingerbread" architecture.

Lost in the fire were invaluable masses of State papers, tax documents, land and mortage records. Secretary of State Robert Byrne dashed in and saved the North Dakota Constitution but was badly cut by loose glass. Governor George Shafer summoned all State officials to an emergency conference, declared: "Loss of records will result in the greatest confusion in the State's history and years will elapse before it is untangled." Property damage: $600,000 (covered by insurance).

The Legistlature, ready to meet this week in a new War Memorial Building, will be asked to rebuild the Capitol immediately.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.